Thursday 19 / September / 2024
Thursday
14.00 Pack some cold beverages, coffee, snacks, and get your playlist ready for a long drive. That is going to be your sole mission for the next six hours. Your destination: Duqm.
21.00 Check-in at the Crowne Plaza Duqm, enjoy a local seafood platter at Al Safi Seafood Restaurant, and call it a night.
FRIDAY
08.00 Grab a coffee and get back in the car to take the 37 road from Duqm until Habhab, turn right onto the unpaved road from Habhab to Jaluni for about 30 kilometres. You will reach a fence and marked entrance of the Al Wusta Wildlife Reserve (+968 9325 1581/ +968 9921 3388).
10.00 Spot the gazelles, best believe they have already spotted you. The babies are so cute, you’ll end up with loads of pictures.
11.00 Watch the majestic white Arabian Oryx playing, eating, lounging, and circling around.
13.00 Meet your Bedouin guide, for half day he will show you his local Bedouin way of life, culture, and explain the desert ecosystem and its rare wildlife.
19.00 Drive back to the hotel for a nightcap and bite at Frontier Restaurant before bed.
SATURDAY
09.00 Check-out, buy some road snacks, and re-fill your tank; petrol stations are scarce on the 37 road. Drive north and stop along the way, about 20 minutes into your drive, to take in the splendour of Wadi Nafun (coordinates 19.833874, 57.660505). Continue, following the signs to Nafun beach for a quick swim to refresh before your long-haul drive.
10.30 Take the 37 road back to Muscat, enjoying its captivating landscape, which transforms from white sands to green bush to reddish rock.
18.00 At the end of the road, reach beautiful palm-lined Muscat.
